Early Life

Lar Park Lincoln was an actress whose performances cracked through genre, time, and tropes—turning what could have been familiar into fresh, memorable, and at times unforgettable. Best known for her roles in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood and the long-running soap Knots Landing, she also carried a deep commitment to mentoring younger actors, running a studio, and helping people navigate an industry that can be as harsh as it is glamorous. Her life spanned triumphs, trials, reinvention, and in the end, a legacy of strength and craft that few forget.

Laurie Jill Park was born on May 12, 1961, in Dallas, Texas. Growing up in Texas, she would later adopt the stage name Lar Park Lincoln, carrying both her roots and her resolve with her as she moved into acting. There is less public detail about her earliest childhood beyond her birth and upbringing in Texas, but what becomes clear is that by young adulthood she was committed to pursuing performance, breaking into film and television in the mid-1980s.

Education & Formative Influences

While the record does not indicate a formal performing arts degree, Lar Park Lincoln’s formative years in the business came through steady work, risk, auditioning, and embracing roles across television and film. She honed her craft by doing: taking guest roles, accepting roles in horror, soap, film, and allowing herself to explore both protagonists and antagonists. Her early work in genre films and TV anthologies taught her how to carry fear, tension, character work, emotional shifts—lessons that would serve her all her career.

Career Journey

Lar Park Lincoln’s professional path divides into phases: early break, genre and soap success, diversification and mentorship, and finally later years of reflection and enduring influence.

Early Break & Genre Roles

Her screen debut came in 1985, in the made-for-television movie Children of the Night. Before long she took on film roles in House II: The Second Story (1987) and The Princess Academy, marking her presence in the industry not just as a guest star, but as someone capable of anchoring parts in genre cinema. The leap to broader recognition came with Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood in 1988—she played Tina Shepard, a telekinetic “final girl” pitted against horror’s infamous Jason Voorhees. It was a bold part; it was scary; it was also a showcase of her ability to carry both terror and empathy.

Soap Opera Success & Turning Points

Around the same period, she landed what would become one of her most enduring roles: Linda Fairgate on Knots Landing, starting in 1987. Linda was not one-dimensional; she was cunning, scheming, sometimes unlikeable, but more often compelling. Lar brought complexity to the part—especially when writing and producers pushed the character into moral grey zones. She inhabited Linda for multiple seasons, becoming a familiar figure in daily TV for many viewers. The character’s arc ended dramatically—Linda was murdered on the show—but not before making a lasting impact.

Diversification, Mentorship & Artistic Expansion

After her soap opera years, Lar didn’t rest on her early horror or daytime success. She continued acting in television guest roles—Murder, She Wrote, Beverly Hills, 90210, Freddy’s Nightmares, Highway to Heaven—films, independent projects, and later fan films revisiting past roles. She expanded her artistic presence by founding the Actors Audition Studios in Dallas, using her experience to coach, mentor, and guide aspiring actors. She also authored a book titled Get Started, Not Scammed in 2008, offering practical advice to newcomers in the entertainment industry. These moves show a shift: less about seeking fame, more about sustaining craft, helping others, the business of acting, and the love of performing.

Late Career, Health Struggles & Reflection

Lar Park Lincoln had been battling breast cancer since about 2008, undergoing surgeries and treatments over many years. The disease affected her life and career, but she kept working, kept mentoring, kept showing up—sometimes in smaller roles, sometimes in works with horror conventions or fan-films that honored her earlier iconic roles. Her later credits include revisiting her character Tina Shepard in fan circuit work, and appearing in genre and independent productions. On April 22, 2025, she died in Dallas, at the age of 63. Her death was announced by Actors Audition Studios, the school she founded, which paid tribute to her 45-year career. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, siblings, and many friends and fans.

Personal Life

Lar was married to Michael Martin Lincoln in December 1981; their marriage lasted about 14 years until his death in 1995. She had two children, a daughter and a son, and later grandchildren. While much of her public profile highlighted her acting, she was also deeply dedicated to teaching and mentorship—using her own journeys, including setbacks, to help others avoid pitfalls. She yielded a life shaped by both public intensity and private strength.

A longtime Texan, she maintained her roots in Dallas, where she eventually based her coaching studio. She had a beloved poodle, family ties, and was known among peers for kindness, determination, and for seeing acting not merely as show but as work—auditioning well, understanding contracts, time, risk.

Legacy

Lar Park Lincoln leaves behind a multi-layered legacy:

• Her roles in horror and soap are memorable: Friday the 13th Part VII still resonates with fans decades later; Linda Fairgate in Knots Landing remains a part of the daytime television memory for many.

• As a mentor and coach, through Actors Audition Studios, she influenced dozens—if not more—of actors navigating the audition process, teaching both craft and business awareness.

• Her book, Get Started, Not Scammed, reflects her concern that others learn not only how to act, but how to survive in an industry prone to exploitation.

• Her resilience—continuing to work through illness, branching into different genres, revisiting fan-driven work, and not letting early typecasting fully define her—speaks to a life of adaptability.

• To fans, she represented both horror icon and soap opera schemer; to peers, she showed professionalism, mentorship, and a willingness to share.

Conclusion

Lar Park Lincoln’s story is one of dualities: horror and daytime, villain and vulnerability, public roles and private battles, early peaks and long seasons of mentorship. Raised in Texas, she stepped into Hollywood, battled typecasting, illness, and the sometimes fickle tides of fame—and yet remained dedicated to her craft, to her students, and to kindness. She will be remembered not just for the characters she embodied, but for the doors she helped others to open, and for the strength she carried, visible in her work and in her life. Her presence lingers in scream echoes, in soap opera turns, and in every aspiring actor she encouraged to audition bravely.